The Yayoi Kusama show currently exhibiting at New York’s Gagosian Gallery a is either a splendidly appropriate birthday present to the 80-year-old artist or a free public service for the masses. Either way, it’s worth a pilgrimage to pay tribute or just ponder the void.

A staple of New York’s avant-garde scene in the 1960s, Kusama is known for her psychedelic repetitions and floating dot patterns, both of which originated in hallucinations from a neurotic disorder that Kusama first experienced at age ten.

The exhibit’s crown jewel, the above “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity”, is a dazzling installation of white lights draped from the ceiling and reflected on four walls. A shallow pool of water on the ground completes the illusion, and taken in total the installation is an apt expression of infinity (a concept dear to Kusama).

If you can’t get to the exhibition, sate your curiosity with a peek at Kusama’s MySpace.